Freed from Lace
by littlestrick
Summary: Sofia's wedding day is nothing like what she imagined it would be. Expanded from the drabble "Comfort" from my drabbles posting. Chapter One: T. Chapter Two: C for Cheese!. Chapter Three: T. Chapter Four: M for a very happy wedding night.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This was a 500 word prompt that turned into more, so you'll find the first 500ish words in "Prompts and Drabbles." But the story required more of me and I was very happy to give it. As always, reviews are very much appreciated. Happy reading!**

* * *

"Well what are you going to do about this?" The little witch stood in front of Cedric. He barely recognized her without her pointed hat. The gown Amber had selected for her was flattering, but it made the young woman look closer to a courtly powder puff than a witch. Her hair, dark and wild, was the only thing that allowed him to identify who she was.

Cedric was sitting beside the fountain in the gardens, surrounded by the sounds of cleaning up as tables from the reception were cleared and servants chatted softly amongst themselves. The sky was a startlingly clear blue, the air warm with a cool, occasional breeze. It was a perfect early summer day and somehow Cedric was still sitting under a figurative raincloud.

Fingers snapped right in front of his nose. "Hello? Mr. Sensational? Anybody home in there?"

Cedric looked up at Lucinda, face glum. "What do you want?"

"Why are you sitting out here?"

"I missed it. It's over. I'm…"

" _Mourning,_ " he thought, but couldn't say aloud. The little witch had the audacity to laugh right in his face.

"You unobservant fool." She moved behind him and put her hands on the sides of his face, squishing his cheeks together as she moved his head to face the multi-tiered cake. "Look at that sugar monstrosity." Cedric tried to shrug out of her hands but her grip was strong. " _Look_ at it."

"What do you want me to see?!" he snapped, hurt and sorrow and anger flaring as he turned to look at the witch instead of the cake. "It's a wedding cake!"

She quirked one eyebrow, her eyes alight with entertainment. "An _uncut_ wedding cake."

Cedric felt his mouth gape open slightly.

"He left her, Mr. Sensational. She never wanted him anyway, not really, but she's hurt and embarrassed and won't see anyone. She needs comfort. She needs _you_ but the two of you are both too dense to see it so I thought I'd intervene."

Cedric wasn't aware of how he got from the gardens to Sofia's bedroom door, but he knew he must have been running as he was now panting and out of breath. He was vaguely aware of the little witch shooting him a knowing smile from down the hall as she pulled out her wand and waved it around, causing Sofia's door to open and then close and magically lock with him on the inside. He could distantly hear her cackling as she walked back down the hall as Cedric turned his attention to the broken bride curled into her childhood window seat.

Sofia's hands were reaching behind her, tugging at what looked like millions of tiny buttons that kept her trapped inside her gown. She stood suddenly and turned to face him. Cedric felt his breath stop. She was stunning. The gown must have been faerie made. Swaths of delicate lace gave off an almost imperceptible shimmer and shine. It hugged her curves with a neckline that exposed bare shoulders and lace sleeves that extended down to loop around her fingers. Her hair must have been up at some point as it now fell in uneven, soft waves across her shoulders. Her carefully applied makeup around had smeared to accompany the red rims that had developed around her eyes from frustrated tears.

Upon seeing her, Cedric determined that he had been right to skip the wedding. He wouldn't have been able to watch her walk down the aisle to another man looking like that. Even with her disheveled appearance she was angelic. A fallen angel, now. And he must be the devil for wanting her to be his now more than ever.

Her eyes were begging into his. Her mouth was moving. She was desperate and speaking and he was missing it.

"-it off. Please, please get it _off_." Her voice was bordering on the verge of hysterical. She was pulling at the bodice of her dress, at her sleeves, at the skirt - anywhere she could pull but the dress wasn't moving. "It's suffocating me, please. I can't...get if off, get it off, get if off!" She cried in an escalating mantra. Cedric moved so quickly to her side that he caused his robes to billow out behind him. He turned her by the shoulders so he had access to the buttons down her back and began fumbling to undo them, one by one. He could see the tears starting to fall down Sofia's cheeks as her feet moved impatiently in place. His fingers weren't fast enough. He spared no thought for the dress as he drew the small knife he kept on his belt for brewing. He ran the blade down the buttons and they popped free. Sofia peeled the dress off her torso and it fell to the floor in a puff of lace.

Sofia clasped her hands to her neck as though there had been clinging fabric there and drew in a gasping breath. She kicked the dress that encircled her on the floor. She grabbed a handful of lace and pulled at it, ripping it and screaming in howls Cedric had never heard from her before. He stared at her, stripped down to corset and pettipants, unwilling to stall her rage at the physical manifestation of the event that had so scorned her.

When Sofia fell to her hands and knees, hoarse and weeping, he could stand by no longer. He was on the ground beside her in an instant and collected her in his arms, pressing her shaking body to his. She fought against him at first, beating against his chest with a flat palm until he restrained her further. He finally felt her weight collapse against him, exhausted. He rocked her there on the floor for long minutes, stroking her head and murmuring comforting sounds into her hair as she buried her head into the crook of his neck.

Cedric lost track of how long they stayed like that. The sun moved and made different shadows across the marble floor but the sky hadn't darkened. It couldn't have been more than an hour that they sat in silence. He didn't mind it. He never minded silence or noise, as long as she was in the room. But on this day, with what he thought had been lost to him instead here in his arms, he felt like he should say something.

"I'm so sorry, Sofia," he whispered beside her ear. She pressed her hand against his chest to help her sit up to face him. Cedric couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge the tracks her tears made through her makeup. She was always beautiful to him.

"For what?"

Cedric paused, slightly stunned. "I would think that to be obvious. Your wedding - the day...it's ruined."

"Cedric," she reached out her hands and cupped his face and sighed. "Oh, Cedric. Today is the best day of my life."

Confusion didn't allow Cedric to say a word before Sofia leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. His body seemed to know what was happening before his mind did as his arms held her closer and his lips responded, parting to invite her in. She responded immediately, flicking her tongue out to meet his, deepening the kiss and delving into Cedric's year-long fantasies.

Reality crashed around him and he fought back the hungry need inside of him. Cedric pulled back so far that Sofia fell out of his arms and into the tattered pile of cloth that had been her wedding dress.

"What are you doing?"

"I would think that was obvious, Cedric." She said in a low purr.

"You can't. Y-y-you're -"

"Definitely not married." She started to crawl across the floor towards him. Cedric was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that she was garbed in nothing but her undergarments. He continued to back away from her, still on the floor, as she advanced. "I never loved him. I was going through with it for my family. For Enchancia. For what was expected of me."

"From my understanding, love usually has v-v-very little to do with these sorts of things." She continued her slow approach as Cedric bumped up against the steps that led to the pedestal that held her bed. She was like a jungle cat and he her pray as her advance caused him to inch up the steps. He tried very hard not to stare down at her cleavage that was so easily viewed from this angle. He might have failed in his efforts once. Or twice.

"Love had everything to do with this, Cedric. Love is why it hurt so much when you made no protest over my engagement. Love is why I felt like I had to go on with my commitment, even when his touch made my skin itch. Love is what sent you running to me today when I was hurt."

"So you didn't l-l-ove him? You didn't want this? But you were so upset…"

The predatory gleam in her eye softened. "A kind understatement." Cedric had come into contact with her bed and could move backward no farther. Seeing him stalled, she made up the space between them in an instant, sitting back on her knees and poised between his legs. "I was furious that any of this happened at all. That I was left by someone I never wanted. The cost of the wedding, the cost of my father's pride. But I decided something just now while you held me."

"And what was that?" His voice was barely louder than a whisper. He was awed by her strength, her confidence as she leaned closer and closer to him.

"I decided that I was done pretending obligation was anything like love. I decided to follow my heart and spend as hours, days, and years as possible wrapped up in your arms. I decided to stop waiting for you and say exactly what I mean to say." Their faces were inches apart. Cedric could barely take in the intensity of her eyes while so distracted by her tongue that subconsciously darted out to wet her lips.

"What do you mean to say, Sofia?" All of his unease melted away in her eyes. She straddled him. His hands fell naturally around her waist and he helped her settle closer to him.

"That I love you. I want you, above all others." Her tone was natural but the words sounded as though she had written them and recited them over and over, preparing for exactly this moment. She had more to say, he knew it, He wanted to let her say her piece. He wanted to hear what she had to say. But Cedric couldn't help himself. He cut her off, allowing his so-long denied impulses precious freedom as he crashed his lips into hers. She mewled and pressed her body against his until there was no light between them.

"I love you," he said again and again as he peppered kisses across her cheek and down her neck. "Merlin, Sofia. I love you. I have loved you. I will love you."

Sofia whimpered, whether from his lips or his words, Cedric couldn't be certain. Her hips began to rock against his quickly stiffening manhood and he groaned into her ear.

"Please Cedric," she sighed into the soft gray of his two-toned hair. "Please let me have the wedding night I wanted."

"As you wish," he said, lips curling into a smile as he lifted her off of his lap and got to his feet. He held out his hand to Sofia and she took it, disappointment and confusion battling for dominance across her face. "As fetching as this corset is, you will need a dress."

"I need - what?"

Cedric walked across the room and into her closet with Sofia stumbling behind him. She watched in stunned silence as he surveyed her collection of gowns and before drawing out a simple, pale blue dress that she had worn in the village during Beltane this past spring.

"I'm rather fond of this one. What do you think?"

"...I really thought I'd be taking off clothes, not putting more on."

Cedric chuckled. "You certainly can get married in the nude, but I'd rather I be the only one to see my wife naked."

"Your...wife?" She looked star struck before a giggle escaped her lips and she covered her mouth with her hands.

"You deserve a wedding filled with love and _that_ is something I can give you without another thought." He reached out his hand to touch her face, running his thumb across her cheekbone. "Is that what you had in mind?"

She nodded fervently. "Yes."

* * *

 **A/N: So apparently Cedric wants me to write out their wedding vows. I was all ready to write this scene but they wanted more and so here we are, turning this one shot into a two shot.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: The wedding ceremony words are pieced together from various Celtic and Wiccan vows I found online. No original work, there and all that stuff is in bold.**

 **Rated C for CHEEEEEESE :D**

* * *

After a surprisingly smooth conversation between Baileywick and Cedric outside of Sofia's door, of which Cedric had only barely managed to open after breaking through Lucinda's magic, the castle was buzzing with activity to set up for the second wedding of the day. Lucinda swore up and down that she had the decor covered and Amber had shooed Cedric out of the room to help Sofia get ready. She beamed at him as the door closed between them. She had questions, so many questions. The primary one being if he had wanted to marry her, why hadn't he said anything during her engagement to that sham of a man? She wanted the answer. She wanted so many answers but she was swept up in the romanticism of the moment. The answers would come and no matter what they were, Cedric was the man she wanted.

Amber surprised her. She had been so supportive of Sofia's engagement but it seemed as if the support was a false wall. She didn't say a word against Sofia's former fiance as she brushed out her hair, but she couldn't stop smiling and sniffling back little tears. They decided together to leave her hair down and flowing; simple, to pair with simplicity of her gown. As Amber was cleaning the smeared makeup from Sofia's cheeks, Lucinda popped back into the room with a wildflower bouquet for the bride and advised them both not to wear shoes.

As Sofia stepped into the hall, she was reminded of what an incredible man Baileywick was. With his hold on the castle, and Lucinda's help, the decor from the afternoon had completely changed. What had been an explosion of stark white tulle had changed into the colors of early summer: the earthy greens of leaves and vines and florals in blues and purples with twinkling fireflies and faerie lights and a path of creamy white flower petals leading down the hall.

"This is a wedding for magic folk," Lucinda explained outside the door as Amber fussed with Sofia's dress. "I thought you wouldn't mind, considering your proclivity for the magical arts and the man you're about to bind yourself to. I had to improvise a few things, but I don't think you'll notice. Anyway. You won't walk down with your father - your parents and the few guests still around are already seated. This isn't about you being given away. You'll walk to your intended alone, of your own choice, so Amber and I will leave you here. Just follow the flowers." The witch kissed her on one cheek and whispered in her ear, "it took the two of you long enough."

Sofia laughed. Amber straightened the back of Sofia's skirt one more time, squeezed her hand and then followed after Lucinda. They rounded the corner, out of sight, and Sofia took a long count of ten and then started to walk. She had already wasted this past year without Cedric predominately in her life. She didn't want to waste another moment.

The petals were enchanted to the ground so they didn't get caught up in Sofia's skirt as she walked, bouquet in hand. Her pale blue dress was simple but beautiful in design: a scoop neckline leading to cap sleeves that fluttered over her shoulders, layer after layer of thin silk organza that made her appear ethereal against the faerie lights, a daring dip in the back of the dress mostly hidden by her waves of auburn hair cascading down her back. The dress required no corset to restrain her and no jewelry to detract from her natural beauty. This was the dress she needed to marry the man she wanted, not some expected lace monstrosity.

The petals led her not to the Great Hall but instead to her favorite "secret" garden. The sun was just beginning to streak the sky with the colors of sunset as she approached the open door. Everyone who mattered was there and that was it. Her parents and her siblings, though more surprising was the presence of Cedric's parents, his sister and niece who all seemed to vacillate their expressions between thrilled and shocked. All present were standing, barefooted, holding hands in a circle with Goodwin directly across from the entrance to the gardens. Lucinda was there, holding her wand as she stood outside of the circle with a cheshire smile. She took the bouquet from Sofia's hands and then returned to her place. There was a break in hands of the circle between her mother and Winnifred, allowing Sofia to look inside and then feel her breath catch.

Cedric had never looked more vulnerable or more handsome. He struck a strong, tall, lean image in the colored lights of the sky. He had shed his layers of exterior cloth walls and stood instead in a simple, cream-colored shirt and dark trousers, both of a very fine make. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows against the fading heat of the day. He wore a green circlet made of woven vines and leaves and little white flowers that stood out starkly against his hair. It was connected by a long white ribbon to a second, matching circlet that he held anxiously in his hands. He stared down his long nose at it, circling one of the flowers again and again with his thumb. Sofia couldn't stop staring as long seconds passed by, longing to be that flower, longing to be in his arms, longing to be his without contest.

James stifled a laugh and cleared his throat. Sofia's eyes darted to him as her teeth released her bottom lip, which she hadn't even realized she'd been biting. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and then tossed his head in just the slightest movement at Cedric. Sofia turned her gaze her her beloved and found his eyes locked on hers. All of his anxiousness seemed to melt away as he smiled - oh he _smiled_ \- and held out an empty hand to her. She couldn't help her grin as she stepped inside of the circle which locked around the couple once they were both inside. There was a soft hum as a green ribbon of magic shot out from Lucinda's wand. It wrapped around each set of holding hands, binding them in something stronger than just touch.

Cedric placed the circlet in his hands on Sofia's head and Goodwin began to speak, glowing softly as he channeled the most ancient of spells.

 **We cast the circle of ancient lore  
** **Waves upon a timeless shore  
** **With no beginning, nor an end  
** **It always knows a foe from friend**

 **Bide the Magic laws you must  
** **in perfect love and perfect trust.  
** **When the wind comes from the South,  
** **love will kiss thee on the mouth.  
** **When the wind blows from the East,  
** **expect the new and set the feast.  
** **When the West wind blows o'er thee,  
** **departed spirits restless be.  
** **Heed the Northwind's mighty gale –  
** **lock the door and drop the sail.**

 **Cast the circle once about  
** **to keep all evil spirits out.  
** **Live and let live –  
** **fairly take and fairly give.  
** **Soft of eye and light of touch –  
** **speak little, listen much**

 **Lord and Lady, I beseech ye.  
** **Say the words.**

Everyone in the circle was glowing softly, now. Goodwin was speaking the spell into existence but Lucinda seemed to be guiding as a conductor guided an orchestra. The spell was grounded to the circle, but stretched higher and higher into the sky, seeming to seize the sunset for its own use, drawing the colors back down to scatter over Cedric and Sofia. She was staring up into his dark honey colored eyes, absolutely encapsulated. She could hear Goodwin. She could feel the spell surrounding her. But she was only aware of Cedric's eyes and his hand that held tight to hers. Sofia could feel words bubbling into her mouth. Words she had never heard before, yet, through the spell, knew them to be right. The couple spoke, together.

 **You cannot possess me for I belong to myself.  
** **But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give.  
** **To desire thee and be desired by thee, to possess thee and be possessed by thee,  
** **Without sin or shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee.  
** **From this day it shall only be your name I cry out in the night  
** **And into your eyes that I smile each morning  
** **From this day, I shall be a shield for your back as you are for mine,  
** **I give thee my body, that we two might be one.  
** **I give thee my spirit, until our life shall be done.**

The colors drawn down from the sky coalesced into their circlets as the sun set. Cedric reached to her head and took her circlet into his hand. Sofia mimicked his movement, taking his circlet in hand. She watched, eyes wide with amazement they shrunk into ring-sized, immaculately detailed silver bands and the ribbon connecting them vanished. But even with the ribbon gone, Sofia could feel that the magic had them somehow tied together, somehow connected. The sunset of that evening now tied into their rings, the moon had no choice but to rise as the stars began to twinkle against the twilight sky.

Cedric took her left hand in his and poised the band at her ring finger as he began to speak, holding her eyes with the truth of his promising words.

 **I take you my heart  
** **At the rising of the moon  
** **And the setting of the stars.  
** **To love and to honor  
** **Through all that may come.  
** **Through all our lives together  
** **In all our lives,  
** **May we be reborn  
** **That we may meet and know  
** **And love again,  
** **And remember**

He slipped the ring on her finger and she felt a faint warmth run up the length of her arm to her heart. She then held his left hand and said the same words, her speech again influenced by the knowledge the spell surrounding her imparted her with.

 **I take you my heart  
** **At the rising of the moon  
** **And the setting of the stars.  
** **To love and to honor  
** **Through all that may come.  
** **Through all our lives together  
** **In all our lives,  
** **May we be reborn  
** **That we may meet and know  
** **And love again,  
** **And remember**

She slipped the ring on his finger and the warmth in her chest spread throughout her entire body in a snap. She distantly heard Lucinda gasp as Sofia felt a new awareness in the back of her mind that blossomed with joy and love. It was a connection to her near-husband emotions through the spell, through the rings, through their rare, true love. Sofia's jaw hurt for the intensity of her smiling and Cedric's lips curled in a wry smile of his own.

Goodwin was speaking again in that sorcerer's deep tone.

 **May joy and peace surround you both,  
** **Contentment latch your door  
** **And happiness be with you now and bless you for evermore**

Cedric's hands flew to her body, one wrapping around her waist and one cupping the back of her head as his fingers tangled in her hair. She managed to get one arm around his neck before he tilted her head back and kissed her eagerly and deeply in passion and purity of soul. Sofia closed her eyes, feeling the last of the magic that had held the circle's hands together surround them tightly before releasing in a burst of air that fluttered her skirts and hair. She pressed into Cedric - her husband - as he held her to him, finally breaking off the kiss to replace it with one soft and chaste as the sound of applause from all around them brought them back to reality.

Cedric pressed his forehead against hers, eyes still closed but a smile across his lips. "Now about that wedding night…" he whispered. Sofia felt a low throb of passion in the back of her mind.

Sofia grinned. "But there's cake!" she teased.

Cedric rolled his eyes playfully. "Fine, fine. Cake first. And _then_ you're mine."

* * *

 **A/N: Just like the man says. Next chapter. Wedding night shenanigans.**

 **Hey, remember when this was a one shot? :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Sofia was filled with butterflies. For all of her confidence in her seduction of her sorcerer earlier in the afternoon, now her palms were sweating as she walked arm in arm with her _husband_ to the wedding suite. It was a room she had been dreading. She had gotten dressed in her first wedding dress in that room. She had paced back and forth, waiting for three in the afternoon to come, for her father to walk in the door and fight back tears and then take her on her arm and give her away to a man she didn't want who would later bring her back in that room and take her virginity and then do who-knows-what with her back in his kingdom. But three came and went and then her mother came to the door instead.

 _He_ was gone. He had waited until literally the last moment and then pulled out of the agreement he and her father had come to without Sofia's input. Her mother had come because her father was raging around his own room and her mother thought she would need some sensitivity in this moment. Sofia hadn't said a word. She was trapped in a sort of shocked silence. She waited until her mother left and then ran to the safe familiarity of her own room and lost track of time until Cedric was there like a beacon of everything good in the world. A hero, a knight who had no need for armor.

Cedric had been absent from Sofia's life since her announced engagement. Her lessons with him had stopped. He refused to make eye contact with her. She had tried to confront him but was met with a passive ambivalence that hurt her so deep in her soul that she could no longer bear to be in his presence.

Now, in a turn of events she never would have predicted, she was to enter the bridal suite with Cedric and it no longer seemed so daunting. It was exciting. The overwhelming amount of the support of their families only brought her more joy. Yes, her father and Cedric's sister still seemed generally shell-shocked, but everyone else seemed to have adopted a general "well it's about time" attitude towards them as they spent the past hour stealing sweet kisses and sharing unabashed lingering glances with one another.

All the while, Sofia could sense an almost overwhelming happiness in the back of her mind. Lucinda had slid in the seat beside Sofia as Cedric's mother stole him away for a dance and spoken with a bit of awe in her voice. " _True love,"_ she had said. " _I mean, I knew you two loved each other but the spell…"_ and then Sofia lost track of the words as Lucinda started spouting off about spell theory. " _...the point being that the two of you are connected by more than just choice."_

Eventually the cake had been eaten, stars filled the sky, and Cedric's eyes spoke of unfulfilled promises that curled Sofia's toes.

Cedric opened the door for Sofia and she crossed the threshold. The room, like the wedding decorations, had been transformed. But this transformation had little to do with decor. She was seeing the room with fresh eyes filled with happiness instead of anxiety when she found her gaze long lingering on the bed. Distantly she heard the door close and felt Cedric lift up her hand to place a surprisingly intimate kiss on the interior of her wrist.

"Wife." Sofia felt a shiver of anticipation start in the back of her mind, her connection to Cedric, and run down her spine as a smile ran across her lips. "I believe I owe you an answer or two before we get to that wedding night you mentioned."

Sofia exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. It's like Cedric was in her head. Well, he was now, wasn't he? He led her across the room and sat beside her on the edge of the bed, his knees turned in towards in towards hers, and took her hands in his lap.

"When your engagement was announced, the depth of sorrow that I felt taught me just how much I loved you. I felt you were lost to me and couldn't stand to look at you. Every time I saw you, I was tortured by images of a life I would never know. Knowing that you were...taken, my life was only bearable with you completely removed from it. I was mourning, today." He squeezed her hands and chuckled softly. "I cannot believe...Merlin!" He outright laughed. Lines around his mouth and eyes crinkled, unconditioned to smiling after an especially miserable year. "I cannot believe I spent a year trying not to think about you, look at you and now I'm touching you, _married_ to you."

The laughter was infectious and Sofia found herself joining him before he pressed sweet kisses against her lips as if he was trying to convince himself that she really was sitting there before him. One hand flew to her cheek while the other found his way to her wedding ring, absently spinning it around her finger.

"Cedric," she tried to get his attention between kisses. " _Husband_." He paused, eyes twinkling. "I just - it feels like we've wasted so much time. I wish you had told me all of this months ago. I think it would have given me the final push I need to fight back against being traded like a bag of wool."

"A very, very beautiful, expensive bag of wool."

Sofia whacked his arm half heartedly. "But if...if you wanted me, then earlier today why were you - um, why did you -"

"Resist you when you were crawling towards me like a prowling, hungry tigress?"

Sofia bit her bottom lip and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Well, yes."

"I thought _you_ were mourning." Cedric's thumb traced across her cheekbone just as he had done earlier that afternoon. "I didn't want to be a mistake. I thought you might be caught up in the emotions of the moment and ignoring the reality of what just happened to you."

She leaned into his hand, their eyes locking and warmth spreading through her. His other hand wrapped around her waist and settled there, holding her closer to him. She didn't know what to say back to him. There were enough answers now, she felt resolved enough now that she could let her mind shut off just a little and pay more attention to the growing sense of need that made her absently rub her thighs together.

"Husband…" she said in a barely voiced whisper. His nose pressed against hers. Their lips hovered centimeters apart.

"Wife…?" his voice was low and husky and laced with need. His tongue absently licked his lips. Sofia heard herself give the tiniest gasp.

"I think...I think you should kiss me now."

* * *

 **A/N: So, listen. This was gonna be a M chapter but they needed to resolve some stuff first. And there turned out to be enough content here to warrant a small chapter. But no more excuses, juicy juicy lemon coming up next.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Rated M. A whole chapter of Mmmmmmmmm.**

* * *

Sofia's instruction had barely sung into his ears before Cedric's lips collided with hers. His hand immediately ran to the back of her head, working in consort with the hand around her waist to pull her closer and closer to him. The kiss lacked finesse; all teeth colliding and noses bumping as they hurried to remove all the space between them. Their passion occluded the need for skill, but it took no time at all for them to find a rhythm. Cedric pillowed her lower lip between his, sucking it into his mouth and biting down enough to draw a soft moan from Sofia. He smiled, releasing her lip and kissing her gently, building up again to nips and long, languid exchanges.

Their foreheads pressed together. They panted, out of breath. Sofia's arms had wound around his neck, a finger tracing the v-shape of hair at the nape.

"Sofia-"

"Wife," she corrected.

" _Wife_ ," he kissed her nose as he ran his fingers down through her hair, enamored with the way the long strands ended in an upward curl. "Don't misunderstand me when I say this, beauty. But I want you to be...comfortable. We don't need to do anything tonight at all beyond this. We can-"

But whatever Cedric thought they could do was swallowed up by Sofia's enthusiasm as she surprised him, kissing him with incensed need. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, begging his to find an occupation beyond speaking. Encouraged by her, Cedric turned her body ever so slightly and laid her back onto the bed. He came down beside her to rest on his side, his hand slipping away from her hair to instead support his own weight as he leaned over her and kissed her through her giggles, his lips never leaving hers in all the motion. One of Sofia's hands slipped away from his neck to find his hand around his waist and urge it upward, giving permission and encouragement for him to touch her. Cedric tried to pull back from her deliciously pinked lips to speak again, to tease and appreciate her with words. But Sofia's hand around his neck just pulled him closer to her again. He laughed and returned to her lips with renewed vigor, marveling at how easy it was to flow between passion and humor and delight and _love_ with his Sofia, his wife - his lover.

His encouraged hand began to trace a slow outline from the curve of Sofia's extended arm down to the curve of her breast, up across her sternum and around again. Cedric delighted in the "oh" of surprise against his lips and the soft moan that followed with each pass he made over the outer roundness of her breast. He let his thumb brush over her now-peaked nipple which sent a shiver down her spine. The shiver spurred her into action as she pushed herself up off the bed enough to reach back to the laces that held her dress pressed to her body without a corset. She looked up into his face, her eyes half lidded with desire.

"Would you help me loosen these ties, love?" Her voice was fuller, rounder, even darker than her usual lilt and laced in lust. Cedric immediately reached back to help, but somehow tightened the knot even farther. He thought wistfully of the knife he had used on her previous gown, but it hadn't been a part of his wedding attire. His fingers fumbled as he fought for a solution when it finally came to him.

" _I'm a fucking sorcerer,"_ he thought and he looked down to Sofia with a wolfish grin. He raised his hand into the air, snapped, and the dress was gone - laid neatly on a chair across the room. Cedric looked over at it, pleased with his work before hearing Sofia's gasp and accompanying giggle. He gazed down to see his now very nearly naked lover. He stared openly at her. It couldn't be helped. She was beautiful. Her skin was pale and creamy with a sprinkling of freckles that he immediately vowed to count every night. Her nipples, puckered against some combination of their exposure and his ministrations, stood out against the surrounding sea of cream as dusky rose, begging his attention. She wasn't completely nude. Thin, white small-clothes blocked him from the promise of dark curls around her centre, though he didn't waste time looking below her perfect breasts. Not now, not when what he could see now so tauntingly demanded his attentions.

Sofia cleared her throat. Knowing he was caught staring, and not caring, Cedric unwillingly brought his gaze to her face and didn't regret it. He found her biting a corner of her lip and staring up at him with the hint of an endeared smile in her eyes. He shifted to straddle her and kissed her lips. He kissed across her jawline. He kissed the spot where ear and neck. He kissed across her collarbone and down to her breast where he hovered his mouth above her areola. Sofia squirmed under him, arching her back ever so slightly in hopes of connecting his lips to her breast. Cedric didn't oblige her, instead flicking out his tongue to circle her nipple and then blowing a stream of air across the wetted skin immediately after. He peered up at her face and groaned to see her expression; she was equal parts agony and appreciation. He took her nipple into his mouth and sucked gently, gauging her pleasure before applying the slightest pressure with his teeth and then easing her aching with sweet licks and kisses.

Cedric continued on like this, flicking and licking and sucking as he moved from breast to breast, never leaving one ignored for too long. She was wonderfully reactive to his every touch. He could feel Sofia involuntarily rubbing her legs together below him as she cried out at his affections. He felt her hands on his shoulders as she pushed him up and away from her chest, a little pop sounding in the air as his mouth was pulled from its quarry. She sat up and kissed him fiercely, pulling him to her by the collar of his shirt, before turning him and pushing him back onto the bed. She was untried but bold and he loved her all the more for it. She straddled his hips and smiled down at him and he was reminded of the predatory jungle cat he had seen in her just a few hours earlier.

Warm little hands ran down what little skin of his was exposed around his neck before Cedric felt the first button of his shirt come undone. Sofia smiled slyly down at him. Cedric smugly brought his arms to rest under his head, willingly trapped between her thighs.

"It hardly seems fair," another button came undone, "that you should get to see so much of me," and another, "while you are comparatively wrapped up well enough for a winter's night." The final two buttons came free and she pushed the shirt open, staring down at his bare chest as she lightly dragged her fingertips across his skin. Cedric reached a hand up towards her breast, immediately wanting to reciprocate, but she playfully hit his hand away.

She returned to her two-handed quest, watching him to see what graze, what pressure might make his breath catch. He closed his eyes, indulging in her touch as he felt her lean forward, surprised when her lips met his neck instead of his mouth. He felt his cock twitch and Sofia must have felt it too as she hummed appreciatively and shifted her hips, resettling to press her sex down against exactly the spot where Cedric's trousers trapped his manhood. Her lips found his neck again and Cedric felt himself hardening, the heat of her centre seeming to bypass the cloth between them, luring him closer and closer to her. He groaned into her hair as she traced her tongue along the sensitive shell of his ear, nibbling gently on the lobe as she sucked it into her mouth. Cedric moved his hands, one to her waist and the other cupping her backside to help position her just so as her hips started to grind against him. He could feel the subtle change of his cock rubbing up against that delicate nub of nerves and Sofia froze atop him.

"Oh... _oh_ , that's…" She shifted her hips of her own fruition and gasped. "Good. Oh, that's-" Cedric pressed his own hips upward, his hands guiding her hips to the motion that had stopped her.

"Oh!" Her cry was excited and needy as she dove her head back down, her mouth searching for Cedric's as her hips rolled over and over against him. Cedric stayed relatively still, his hands helping to balance her and his tongue making unhurried laps around her lips. Sofia's pace increased, her breath frantic as she fisted the layers of blanket and sheet beside Cedric's head. He stole his lips away from hers and she pressed her head into the bed, her breathing frenzied beside his ear. He took her breast into his mouth and she mewled as his tongue flicked the tender, tightened bud; his other hand running up to squeeze her second nipple.

A wave of pleasure washed over Sofia as she cried out, her hips spasming against Cedric as him released her breasts and held her to him, placing sweet kisses across her brow as she came down from the orgasmic high. She collapsed on him, boneless, and he ran his fingers through her hair. A thrill shot through him at the knowledge of her pleasure, quickly accompanied by an unfilled ache and yearning of his own.

A few moments passed and he felt Sofia press a wet kiss to his shoulder. She pushed up enough to look down at him, her hair falling to one side in a long curtain of tired curls. Her eyes had the capacity to speak volumes to him without uttering a single word. In this moment, however, the message was simple and clear. _Take me_ , they seemed to cry. _I want you. Take me._

Sofia rolled off of her husband and lay with her back on the bed and Cedric rolled over onto his stomach. He slipped a hand under the waistband of her small clothes and tugged downward. He was teasingly slow, pulling them down her legs as he moved to the edge of the bed. Cedric stood, her drenched small clothes dangling from his pointer finger. Sofia pressed her knees together, a trace of nerves in her body language that was overridden by her coquettish smile.

Cedric shrugged off his opened shirt and dropped Sofia's last vestment to the ground. He moved his hand to unbutton his trousers and froze. That wolfish smile returned as he, instead, got to his knees on the floor beside the bed. Sofia barely had the chance to pout before she felt him wrap his hands around her legs and pull her to the edge of the bed. He brought her left knee to rest on his right shoulder and did the same with the other side and Sofia gasped before his breath even came close to ghosting over her coarse curls.

Cedric's lips moved up Sofia's inner thigh and she had trouble staying still. He wrapped his arms around her legs and held her there while she took turns between bouts of nervous, excited laughter and sighs at his slightest touch. The message of her eyes just moments ago seemed to ring in his ears and he couldn't bring himself to tease her, needing to taste her instead. He pressed his long nose against her and licked from her sex, through her swollen labia and up to the nub that had already brought her such pleasure. Sofia cried out and unconsciously bucked her hips upward in response, writhing and squirming under his tongue as he licked her like this again and again while his hands held her core to his face. He kissed her softly, letting her recover for a moment as he drank in her scent. He smiled hungrily as he felt her hands find his hair and press him ever so slightly into her again. He found her clit again and sucked it into his mouth. It lasted a deliciously short moment as Sofia's hands pulled Cedric back by his hair.

"I need you. Cedric - _husband_ please, _please_ I _need_ you." Sofia's cry was somewhere between beg and demand, desperate for more. Drenched in the taste of her, the scent of her, Cedric pulled away and stood, quickly removing his trousers and exposing his nearly painfully stiff manhood. Sofia pressed herself up on her elbows to stare up at him. Cedric didn't have the space to feel self-conscious as Sofia looked up at him with a predatory hunger in her eyes. Cedric got on the bed and stood on his knees between her open legs and Sofia was on him in an instant, her hands snaking up to his neck and pulling him down to her to kiss him with a ferocious need. Cedric took his cock in hand and positioned himself at her entrance. Their kisses paused and Sofia gave the slightest nod. Cedric pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and pushed into her.

In a measured, tender motion, Cedric slid into Sofia. Her breath caught, as did his. The heat radiating from her impossibly tight walls nearly sent him over his own edge immediately. He took his time, pushing deeper and deeper into his lover until she had taken all of him in. He could feel her holding to him as he filled her. And then he froze, staring down at Sofia with a strange balance of warmth and lust in his expression. He leaned forward and kissed her. She whimpered against his mouth as he shifted inside her. His kiss was soft, sympathetic, and patient.

Slowly, gradually, Sofia began to undulate under him. Cedric bit down on his lower lip, channeling all of his self control to remain still and let Sofia set the pace. Engrossed in his task, it was Sofia's thumbs tracing across his hipbones that brought him back to her. She smiled up at him, her hands urging him to move. He pulled out of her and thrust back inside, answered by her shameless moan of pleasure. Cedric hissed through his teeth, the pure ecstasy of being inside of her, of plunging into her centre, building into a throb that brought him new verve, new meaning to his life. Their rhythm finally established in constant, rolling waves of rapture.

"Cedric…!" she cried out through a gasp. She tightened her thighs around him, her grip digging into his skin, clinging to him as she approached a second climax. Cedric could feel the tell-tale building in his own core, heating him to a nearly unbearable cusp.

"Cedric!" Sofia cried again, tightening all around him as she fell through a second fall from bliss. Hearing her cry his name sent him over his edge with a roar as he came inside of her, filling her, pulsing his completion into her as he gave a feeble, final thrust and collapsed on top of her.

He was vaguely aware of a light kiss to his cheek as his eyes slowly blinked open. He rolled off of Sofia and she immediately curled into the crook of his arm as though she had always belonged there. Their legs were still a tangle as Cedric began to lightly touch across Sofia's arm, allowing the presence of her lithe little frame in his arms ground him in reality. This was real. She was his. It was beyond luck. It was fate. And Cedric could imagine little else in the world ever making him as happy as Sofia had made him.

He turned his head and pressed a kiss into the crown of her head, breathing in deeply.

"I love you, Sofia."

A delicate snore answered him and Cedric allowed himself a smile. It wasn't a day worth mourning, after all.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the end, folks! Sorry it took me longer than expected to get here. Writing this chapter was a challenge - only my second lemon and I feel like it could have been better at the end. But I really wanted to wrap this story up tonight, particularly in response to some Cedfia hate out there that's been making the rounds. I hope you enjoyed it! :)**


End file.
